Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Report on Nonpublic Schools Participating in Federal Programs

This Report is in response to questions concerning the participation by children enrolled in a nonpublic school in federally assisted programs administered by a public school.

Section 601 of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides as follows:

No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity which receives Federal financial assistance.

Any educational institution or system which applies to become a recipient of Federal financial assistance is required by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to submit an assurance of compliance form (HEW Form 441). See 45 CFR 80.4. In addition, the Office for Civil Rights requires such an applicant to provide adequate documentation relating to the policies and practices of participating institutions, in order to show that the program receiving Federal assistance will not be administered in a discriminatory manner.

The issue addressed here in whether OCR requires any information or documentation from a nonpublic school in order to determine that children enrolled in that nonpublic school are eligible to participate in a federally assisted program being administered by a public school or agency.

If the nonpublic school were a recipient of Federal financial assistance, apart from the federally assisted program administered by the public school, then the nonpublic school would be subject to the requirements, noted above, to submit a HEW Form 441 and other documentation. However, if the nonpublic school is not to be a recipient of Federal financial assistance, but merely seeks eligibility for its students to participate in the federally assisted program of the public institution, OCR does not require HEW Form 441 from the nonpublic school. Rather, OCR requires the public institution which is the recipient of Federal assistance to provide that form and the documentation referred to above. The recipient school is responsible for making sure that no discriminatory practices occur in the federally assisted program and, if any questions arise in this regard, OCR looks to the recipient for further information or compliance activities.

It should be noted, however, that the children enrolled in the nonpublic school cannot participate in the public school program if the nonpublic school engages in discriminatory practices prohibited by Title VI. Even though the nonpublic school is not a recipient, any discriminatory practices by it would, in our view, directly affect the federally assisted program.

Although the Regional Offices of OCR will be able to provide information about those schools which have become the subject of a compliance review, OCR does not maintain a list, as such, of approved nonpublic schools and we do not require a nonpublic school to be so listed in order that children enrolled there can participate in public school programs.

If there are any questions they should be sent to the appropriate Regional OCR Director. Their names and addresses are as follows: